Beam me up - Jean Jaques

The interior of the Peugeot 308 could have been mounted in Wolfsburg! It does not rattle, it does not rattle anything and the surfaces radiate a dignified build quality.

So completely off my expectations of a French automobile. 

And then the French dare to take an enormous step further. For the first time in the compact car class, I feel this feeling of “novelty”, a real, clever, new - but above all “courageous concept”.

The buttons are gone.

At least in the Active and Allure equipment and for the most part there. There are a few buttons left in the center console - all buttons that are well integrated, visually appealing, and are the last witnesses to former button invasions.

Peugeot has dared and packs most of the controls in the two upscale equipment lines in the multifunction, multimedia, “multi-things”, navigation and media display. Clean. Simple. Elegant. I would almost tremble in the chest tone of complete conviction. But:

Peugeot was not brave enough to carry this concept through to the end. Because the almost 10 inch touch display has 7 “speed dial buttons” with which the basic functions of the system can be selected. Climate, media, navigation or the new i-Cockpit Apps menu. And there you have it dumbest of all possibilities selected. Touchscreen buttons without haptic feedback and fitted into the monitor's wide black frame. Too bad.  

Criticism:

It would have been better to extend the touch screen with this black frame and similar of the VW system  (only when the hand approaches the touch field) to show the other options. In addition, there is no perceived feedback (e.g. via vibration) as confirmation. With the solution that has now been implemented, the disadvantages of buttons that cannot be felt are combined and the possible space for a larger display is wasted. Courage to try something new, but not finished. At this point, however, I would not give up hope. It could well be that Peugeot is making improvements. It is precisely this type of system that can be adapted using a “facelift”.

What else is coming

An extremely efficient new three-cylinder turbo gasoline engine called “BlueHDi” with CO² emissions of just 82 grams per kilometer and a fuel consumption of 3.1 liters per 100 kilometers. In 2014 Peugeot will also introduce a new six-speed automatic transmission.

Positive:

The new 308 is shorter than its predecessor and still offers more trunk space. The cW value dropped to 0,28 and with the diet of 140 kilograms, the new Peugeot 308 (1.280 kg) became one of the lightest models in the compact car segment.

Negative: 

The range of engines is still manageable and an automatic transmission will not be available until next year. The new operating concept in the interior is based on the right idea, but was not thought through to the end.

And finally ...

French like never before

With the new Peugeot 308, the lion brand managed to convince me for the first time. The new 308 drives confidently, does without design experiments, orients itself on the quality of the Wolfsburg class leader and the result is a golf opponent for the first time - since I have been dealing with cars (20 years), seriously bite!

  All technical data - Peugeot 308 (follows!)

Photo Gallery Peugeot 308 | Own photos | Manufacturer photos

The new Peugeot 308 is the first lion guaranteed to have no bite inhibitions! Congratulations Peugeot!